


By Design

by orphan_account



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Alpha!Jason, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta!Dick, Cuddling, Dick is a Beta, Dilation, Fear of Abandonment, Hurt/Comfort, Insecurity, Intersex Characters, M/M, Masturbation, Mention of Knotting, Mention of Unsafe Sex, Unsafe Stretching, Vaginismus, lubrication, pain during sex, universe specific sexism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 06:43:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20131030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Dick should have been an omega.





	By Design

**Author's Note:**

  * For [slifer_the_sky_noodle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slifer_the_sky_noodle/gifts).

> This is a gift for Sli/glubtheflyingfish :)

Dick stood, chewing his lip and squinting at the rows and rows of personal lubricant, as he had been for the last several minutes. The aisle did not flinch beneath his scrutinizing gaze, the shelves did not rearrange themselves to suit him. He stood, with the stoicism of a statue, and the aisle met his stoicism with a stubbornness of its own.

There were other customers milling about, but they gave the scene a wide berth, sensing the tightening tension. Or perhaps their noses burned from Dick’s scent. Usually richly floral with a touch of citrus, like jasmine and bergamot, Dick’s scent profile was typical of his beta orientation. Soothing, pleasant, and inviting. But from where he scowled at the lubricant, his scent was both cloying and astringent, uncharacteristically harsh on the tongue.

The shop clerk, as familiar with Dick as she was, watched Dick from where she perched behind the counter. Waiting for him to move on, or at least waiting for him to either accept the circumstances as they were or grieve them for what they weren’t.

Finally, he huffed, “I don’t see it.”

His back was turned towards her, and so she wasn’t sure how he knew she was even within hearing distance, but she hardly flinched before chirping, “Heated is on backorder, it got pretty popular after that _Cosmo_ article on lube for menopause. There are others, I’d highly recommend the Sliquid organic stuff. It’s easy on the skin, and the ingredients are supposed to be responsibly sourced and everything.”

“It’s not right,” Dick muttered, crouching down to start scanning the lower shelves as if the change in perspective could change the availability of his preferred brand. “I need the kind that emulates omegan heat slick.”

The clerk’s mouth turned down at the corners and she furrowed her eyebrows. “Honey, there aren’t a lot of companies willing to experiment with pheromones in their lube like that. Heated’s pretty special in that respect. Maybe, try a thicker lube? Gender Fluid’s got some great stuff, they have a thick gel and it’s aloe-based.”

Dick rose again and faced her; his expression was nearly feral. Very un-beta-like indeed, although who was the clerk to cast judgment. Stereotypes were so passé.

“It’s not _right_,” Dick insisted. “It doesn’t—it won’t… I won’t_ feel_ right.” Dick scrubbed his face and the clerk’s heart ached.

“Honey, there’s no ‘right’ way to feel. Your body is perfect as it is, and penetration isn’t the end-all, be-all of sex. If it’s not comfortable—”

“No, no it’s fine for me it just… it _can’t _be for him.” Dick made his way to the counter, propped his elbows, and then dropped his head in his hands. “I can’t even take his knot, not like he needs, and he doesn’t complain, but I _know _he knows he’s missing out.”

It wasn’t unusual for customers to tell her their sexual exploits, challenges, and woes, but it also wasn’t often that she caught a beta buying into the hype of an omegan heat experience. Sure, there was some societal pressure for female-presenting betas to compensate for not having heats or the same level of natural lubrication that omegas boasted, but they also got to skip estrus cycles in favor of regular ol’ periods. The clerk would give her left tit to have a period instead of estrus, but nobody asked her.

“Well, if he hasn’t said anything,” she began, but Dick shook his head.

“I’m his first, he doesn’t know any better. But as soon as he sleeps with an omega he’s going to know what he didn’t get with me, he’s going to regret us.”

The clerk snuck a glance at his neck. Or at least, she thought she’d snuck a glance. When she looked back at Dick, he was frowning at her.

“We’re not married or anything,” he muttered. “Long term relationship, sure. Not enough for a claiming mark, he gets skittish about stuff like that.”

“Then it doesn’t sound like anything to worry about. You planning on leaving him any time soon?”

“No,” Dick admitted, straightening and crossing his arms.

“He seem like he’s looking for an out?” She pushed, already digging around beneath the counter. She glanced up and his lips were pursed.

“No,” he muttered.

“Then don’t jinx it,” she chided. “Besides, knotting’s not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s all fun and sexy until you’re strapped to your partner for half an hour when you’ve really got to pee.” She found what she was looking for and slapped a few square foil packets on the counter. The brand name “Heated” plastered over the front. Dick’s eyes grew wide.

“There. I’m not supposed to be throwing around those samples, we have an event tomorrow, but you’re being pitiful and sexist at yourself. Since I can’t fix you with a pep talk, I might as well tide you over.”

As if the stick had been ripped clean out from his backside, his entire body sagged in relief.

“Thank you, seriously,” Dick said, snatching up the packets and shoving them in his pockets. “If you ever need anything, and I’m serious about this, call this number.” He pulled a card from his pocket and tossed it on the counter. It was a business card, matte black with white lettering that displayed only a phone number. “That’s the line for a friend of mine. He owes me at least 1001 favors, and he’s good to have in a pinch.”

Dick started towards the door, but curiosity won over the clerk and she called out, “Wait! What’s his name so I know who I’m calling?”

Dick glanced over his shoulder and grinned a crooked grin. “Nightwing.”

With that and a ding of the shop’s bell, he was gone, leaving the clerk with her mouth agape.

* * *

“You shouldn’t give your work number out so freely,” Slade chided.

Dick jumped, the razor in his hand clattering to the porcelain ground. His leg dripped with shaving foam, but fortunately, he’d opted to shave while perched at the edge of the tub, rather than indulge in an entire bath. Slade’s unannounced visit wouldn’t go over so well had he been unclothed in the bath.

“Jason had that window reinforced,” Dick warned. “If you broke anything when you came in, you need to get it fixed before he comes home. He’ll be furious, and I just talked him down from iron bars on all of the windows.”

Dick bent down and picked up his razor again, while Slade, maskless but otherwise in uniform, watched curiously.

“I saw you, while you were out today,” Slade began. Dick hummed tunelessly as he dragged the razor through the foam, relishing the closeness of the shave. Slade pushed, “Something wrong, little bird?”

“You shouldn’t follow me without saying hello. Someone might get the wrong impression,” Dick said, electing to ignore Slade’s bait.

“Who, Jason?” Slade shot back. “Since when do you debase yourself to please insecure brats?” Dick paused to scowl at him.

“Yes, Jason, and he’s not a brat,” Dick muttered, returning to his ministrations. “He’s young and sensitive. It’s what makes him so attentive and I like that about him, so don’t start. Are you here about a contract?”

From where Dick watched Slade from the corner of his eye, he saw as Slade opened the medicine cabinet and placed something, Dick couldn’t glean what, inside.

“Yes. Consider this your courtesy warning that I am in the city, and I do intend to fulfill a contract. I tracked you down earlier to tell you, in public, but you seemed preoccupied,” Slade said, settling down to lean against the far wall. “And I’d hardly call him attentive when you’re the one shelling out for specialty lubricant you don’t need. Is he making you do that, kid?”

“He’s not making me do anything,” Dick said lightly. “But he’s an alpha, it wouldn’t be fair to him if I didn’t at least try to give him what he needs. He deserves to have his needs met.”

“He doesn’t need jack shit,” Slade spat back. “You and I got on just fine, who told you other alphas needed any differently?”

Dick set down the razor and stood, allowing the excess foam to drip into the tub before stepping out on the plush rug. He faced Slade fully, and he took advantage of the moment to level a glare his way.

“You’re not a typical alpha, and none of this concerns you. Get out of my apartment, Slade, I’ll see you at work.”

“You need to go back to fucking aliens if this is what alphas do to you,” Slade growled. “You’re better than this kid. You’re not an omega, and no one needs you to be.”

“Out,” Dick said, jutting his finger towards the bathroom door.

Slade huffed, but pulled his mask back on and obliged, exiting through the bedroom window, while Dick followed to ensure he left. The locks were indeed broken upon inspection. Dick huffed and then returned to the bathroom, throwing open the medicine cabinet to confront Slade’s gambit.

Inside, between Dick’s pack of scent blockers and Jason’s cologne, was a tube of Heated personal lubricant.

Dick’s chest clenched, but he set aside the relief in order to open another cabinet, beneath the sink, and pluck out one of his vaginal dilators. His stretching regiment had become lax, and Jason nearly tore him in two the last time he’d buried his knot inside Dick. Dick didn’t let him know, of course, and blamed his period for the bloody sheets. But Jason was only so naïve, and Dick needed to do better if he wanted to be what Jason needed.

He still had a few hours before Jason returned home, and he so he snagged one of the lube samples, undressed, laid himself out on the bed, and began.

When Jason returned home, Dick was at the coffee table mulling over a case file he’d clearly taken from work. While Jason hung his keys on the hook by the door, Dick gathered his materials into a neat pile and set them aside.

“Hey, baby,” Dick offered, although he didn’t stand from the couch. Which was unusual, but Jason wasn’t about to implicate that Dick should always stand in his presence, and so he said nothing.

“Fellow colleague,” Jason greeted, coming around the back of the couch to scent him by brushing his wrist across Dick’s temple. Dick smelled sharp and citrusy, but he sometimes did while focusing. “What are you working on?”

“Cold case from 1976. Poorly staged suicide, but the officers on the scene made a mess of the evidence and the autopsy is a joke. I’m 82% sure it was the neighbor, but 63% of that certainty is a hunch built on suspect interviews and the rest is built on poorly handled DNA evidence.” Dick rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands, and Jason ruffled his hair consolingly.

“A conundrum,” Jason agreed, leaning against the back of the couch. “Do you want takeout? I don’t want to cook; I spent _my_ day mediating between two gangs after unfortunate decision making between the grunts which involved no fewer than three drive-bys and one divorce.”

Dick frowned, and for a moment Jason worried he’d offered too many unsavory details.

“Sorry I didn’t have dinner ready,” Dick said, tilting his head back to cast his big blue eyes on Jason. He looked guilty as could be, although Jason couldn’t fathom why. “I didn’t realize how late it’d gotten, or I would have ordered something.”

Jason bent down to kiss Dick’s head. “Don’t worry about it, it happens. Why don’t we go out to eat? Make it an impromptu date night. We still haven’t tried that new Italian restaurant down the street.”

Dick snorted, and then shifted with an accompanying flinch. Jason cocked his head; he didn’t remember Dick being injured, and Dick didn’t give any other indication he might be injured.

“That’s because it’s definitely a mob front,” Dick muttered, electing to grow still again. “Why don’t we order in? I don’t really feel up to going out.”

“Why?” Jason pushed. He wouldn’t, except for the way Dick’s nostrils were flaring as Dick breathed slowly and through his nose. “You okay? You’re not sitting right.”

“I’m sitting fine,” Dick huffed. “There’s no wrong way to sit.”

“There is,” Jason insisted. Dick’s scent soured, but Jason pushed. “You’re injured, aren’t you? What happened?”

“I’m not,” Dick griped. “Let up, Jason. I ran a couple of errands and then came home to work; I haven’t had the chance to get hurt.”

“Fine,” Jason said, crossing his arms and rounding the couch to face Dick. “Then stand.”

“What?” Dick retorted, shrinking into the cushions just enough for Jason to notice. Jason lifted his eyebrows.

“If you’re fine, then you’ll have no problem standing. Get up, Dick.” Jason kind of hated himself for it, but he could practically feel his own scent thicken and cloud, authoritative and stringently minty, with only a hint of warm nutmeg. He didn’t intend to intimidate in his own home, but the longer Dick curled up like a wounded animal, the more irritable Jason became.

Dick met Jason’s glare with one of his own. They hovered in silence, neither willing to cede, their scents ugly and conflicting. But, finally, Dick’s lower lip trembled.

“I—” Dick began, cutting off to swallow and glare up at the ceiling. “I… tore myself. A bit.”

“You tore—oh!” Realization dawned on Jason. He coughed. “Uh, did you, uh… with a toy?” Jason glanced away, to scrutinize the baseboards along the wall behind Dick.

“No, with the dilator,” Dick admitted, lowering his head to glance at Jason. “I was using a dilator to prep for your knot, and I went too big too soon and tore myself. It’s fine, it happens, I’m just a little sore and don’t want to go to a restaurant tonight.”

Jason whipped his head to meet Dick’s gaze. Dick’s expression was smooth as if he’d just told Jason that it was going to rain or that Jason needed to take out the trash. But no, Dick had_ ripped_ himself with a medical device he didn’t even need, and one which Jason didn’t know he had.

“Dick, you don’t need a dilator, where did you even get one?” Jason asked, crouching down to Dick’s sitting height. Dick frowned.

“I do need one,” Dick insisted. “I can’t take your knot without one.”

“You can’t…” Jason’s eyebrows furrowed. “Baby, I do knot you, though. You’ve asked me to knot you. I’ve—” Jason’s mouth grew as dry as his eyes grew wide. “Dick, no, I haven’t—Dick, I’ve been _hurting _you, _shit_!”

Jason began to blurt apologies, leaning forward and not-so-subtly scenting Dick’s legs and knees as he begged for forgiveness. Jason thought back to when they they had sex, recounted every shiver that may have been a flinch, every moan that may have been a grunt.

Dick wiggled and protested, and then finally, Dick burst.

“It’s not your fault I’m fucking broken!” Dick shouted, shoving Jason away by his shoulders.

Jason fell back on his hands and then froze, wide-eyed. Dick was heaving, eyes wet but determined and angry.

“Dick,” Jason began, but Dick shook his head.

“I should have been an omega, and we both know it. I’m an evolutionary fuck up, a mistake, and a shitty beta to boot.”

“That’s not true,” Jason pushed, sitting up. “That’s—”

Dick, despite his reported pain, lurched to his feet to tower over Jason, and Jason shrunk back. He may have been an alpha, but he knew when to submit and beta scents _begged_ for calm, for yielding, for submission of a different sort. As angry as he appeared, Dick’s scent was still potently beta.

“Tim’s dimension-hopping, he and Damian hate each other, Bruce leaves without preamble, Cass is in Hong Kong. I’m not beta enough to keep the family together,” Dick rattled off, “I’m not beta enough to keep my team in one piece: they’ve all left and I have no idea where they are or if they’re safe or if they’re in need. And then I’m not fucking omega enough to take a knot! All of the fucking parts with none of the goddamn functionality!”

Now Dick was pacing, yanking at his own hair with a pitched voice. Jason stayed on the ground, kept his head tilted back in such a way that bared his throat.

“Your body is perfect,” Jason insisted, in a low, even tone. “Your parts are perfect. They do what they were made to do. And they weren’t made to take a knot, but that’s okay—”

“It’s not!” Dick stopped to turn on Jason. “You’re an alpha, you need to be able to knot. I can’t do that, I can’t give you what you need, I can’t take away your hurt, I can’t keep you happy, and you’re going to leave!”

Jason was surprised, but Dick looked stricken. Dick stumbled back a step.

“Jason,” Dick began, but Jason shook his head.

“Nope,” Jason said, hopping to his feet and stalking over to Dick, forcing Dick back into the nearest wall. Jason placed a hand by Dick’s head, caging him in. “You’ve talked, and now you’re going to listen,” Jason growled, all alpha. If Dick were an omega, he’d be cowing. But he wasn’t an omega, he wasn’t cowing and Jason _liked_ that.

“The knot? Is for mating. It’s a mating tool. That’s all. We’re grown-up, civilized people, sexism has no place in our relationship. If you want to play with my knot, sure, I won’t say no. But I’m not assaulting you any further, do you understand me?”

Dick nodded slowly. His mouth parted as if to interject, but Jason wasn’t finished.

“You? You’re my mate. I chose you. Not because you’re a beta, not because I wanted an omega, but because you’re Dick Grayson and anyone with eyes and a pulse would choose you. Fuck it, I bet I could find a blind reanimated corpse who’d melt for you, have you fucking met yourself?” Jason’s voice was raised but Dick wasn’t shrinking back or flinching, and so Jason didn’t care.

“I want you,” Jason asserted, stepping back and running a hand through his hair, mentally steeling himself for his vulnerable admission. “And I’m here for as long as you want me too.”

“I’m still not—I couldn’t,” Dick began, but his voice warbled, and his eyes were wet. Jason shook his head.

“There isn’t a person alive, beta, alpha, or omega, that could keep the capes and cowls crowd from doing whatever they please. That’s not on you. And don’t think for another fucking instant that they’ve abandoned you because I’ve never met someone as loved and as treasured as you. Do you fucking hear me?” Jason reached out, enveloping Dick into a bone-crunching embrace. “Some of us have to scrounge for what we have. You’ve already got it. It’s not going anywhere.”

After several moments of silence, during which Jason’s anxiety built into a crescendo, Dick wiggled loose enough to stand on his tiptoes and wrap his arms around Jason’s neck.

“Okay,” Dick murmured, rubbing his face against Jason’s cheek before pressing his forehead against Jason’s.

“Are you?” Jason asked into Dick’s neck. “Are you okay?”

Dick scratched the back of Jason’s head. “No. But I will be. I’ll work on it.” After a pause, Dick added, “But I’m still really sore, can we lay down?”

Jason conceded immediately, releasing Dick only to pull him back down on the couch. He arranged Dick so that Dick was laying on top of him, their legs entangled, Dick’s nose tucked right next to Jason’s scent gland. Soft jasmine and warm nutmeg lulled them into a quiet meditation.

Dick wouldn’t unlearn his insecurity in a night, Jason knew better than most the level of care and work that recovery required. But at least Jason _knew_, and so, for now, Jason was content to quell his rising anxiety.

So content, he nearly fell asleep like that, until Dick broke the silence.

“Slade broke the bedroom window,” Dick said, smirking against Jason’s skin when Jason let out a string of curses that’d make a sailor blush.


End file.
